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. 2025 Mar 25;25(1):278.
doi: 10.1186/s12888-025-06710-w.

Relationship between time perspective and depressive symptoms in young people working in high-altitude environments

Nan Mu  1   2 , Lili Zhang  3 , Mengyin Zhu  4 , Zhengzhi Feng  5 , Yan-Jiang Wang  6   7
Affiliations

Relationship between time perspective and depressive symptoms in young people working in high-altitude environments

Nan Mu et al. BMC Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Background: Depression rates are significantly higher in high-altitude regions, making it important to understand its underlying mechanisms. Time perspective, which refers to how individuals perceive their past, present, and future, is closely linked to depression in low-altitude areas. However, its relationship with depression in high-altitude regions remains unclear.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 4942 young male workers from high-altitude regions. The association between time perspectives and depressive symptoms were examined by univariate and multivariate analyses. Network analysis was employed to identify central symptoms and their interactions, and to compare the differences between individuals with and without depression.

Results: The study identified that elevated past negative (PN), reduced past positive (PP), increased present fatalistic (PF) and present hedonistic (PH) orientations, and lower future (F) were significant risk factors for depressive symptoms in plateau populations. In the network structure of the depression group, PN, PF, PH, SDS18 "emptiness", and SDS13 "psychomotor agitation" were key elements influencing depressive symptoms and the strongest edge was F-PP. Significant differences were detected between the depressive and non-depressive groups, with the depressive group demonstrating significantly greater global strength invariance and a more robust network invariance.

Conclusions: Abnormal time perspectives, especially PN, PF and PH were strongly associated with depression in high-altitude environments, and the strong connection between F-PP provides a potential intervention target. Future research should further explore the causal relationship.

Keywords: Depression; High-altitude environment; Network analysis; Time perspective.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: Informed consent are obtained from all participants in this study, and the procedures are complies with the Declaration of Helsinki. This research was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Army Medical University (No. IEC-C-[B013]-02-J.02). Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Network structure and bridge Expected Influence of depressive symptoms and time perspectives in depressed subgroup. a Network structure comprised by depressive symptoms and time perspectives in the depressed subgroup. Depressive symptoms are represented by red nodes, while time perspective variables are indicated by blue nodes; The ring area surrounding each node reflects the variable’s predictability within the network. Correlations between variables are depicted through edges, with edge color denoting correlation direction (green for positive, red for negative associations), and edge thickness corresponding to correlation strength (thicker edges indicate stronger correlations). b Standardized bridge EI(1-step) values for each variable in this network
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Network structure of depression and non-depression group. a Network structure comprised by depressive symptoms and time perspectives of the depressed group. b Network structure comprised by depressed symptoms and time perspectives of the non-depressed group
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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